Masaka Court sets Date to Rule on Kalungu East Vote Recount Application

The Masaka Chief Magistrate’s Court has set January 27, 2026, as the date for delivering a ruling on an application for a vote recount filed by former Minister for Defence Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja in the Kalungu East parliamentary elections.

Ssempijja, who contested on the National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket, is challenging the election results in which he was placed second behind National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Yusufu Kiruruuta Nkeretanyi, who was declared the winner by the Electoral Commission on Saturday.

According to the Kalungu District Returning Officer, Teddy Nabukenya, Nkeretanyi garnered 15,473 votes, defeating Ssempijja, who secured 13,219 votes.

Through his lawyer, Simon Kasangaki, Ssempijja petitioned the court, arguing that the tallying process was flawed and inaccurate. He contends that the results used to declare Nkeretanyi winner do not truthfully reflect the votes cast on polling day, alleging falsification of figures on several Declaration of Results (DR) forms.

Ssempijja further claims that some polling stations were issued with more than one DR form bearing different serial numbers, which he says led to double tallying and the inclusion of “ghost votes,” allegedly in favour of Nkeretanyi.

The application asserts that these discrepancies were committed with the knowledge of Nkeretanyi and with the deliberate intention of inflating his vote tally. He is asking the court to order a recount of all ballot papers cast in the Kalungu East parliamentary election, arguing that based on his own computation, he won the election by a margin of 466 votes.

In response, Nkeretanyi, through his lawyer Samuel Muyizzi, dismissed the allegations, stating that they are based on forged Declaration of Results forms. He argued that the application unfairly shifts blame to a party that did not conduct the tallying process and maintained that the results presented to court are drawn from duly certified DR forms.

Muyizzi further questioned why Ssempijja failed to include the Electoral Commission as a respondent, noting that the responsibility for organizing elections and tallying results lies solely with the Commission. 

He asked the court to dismiss the application for lack of merit, saying it is founded on unsubstantiated claims and cannot justify a recount in an election decided by a margin of more than 2,000 votes.

The trial Magistrate, Albert Asiimwe, directed that the ruling on whether to grant the recount application will be delivered next week. He also cautioned the candidates against inciting their supporters, warning that such actions could fuel unnecessary tensions within communities.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the same court granted an application for a vote recount in the Kalungu West parliamentary race, where incumbent MP Joseph Ssewungu was declared winner by a narrow margin of 46 votes against his closest rival, Ismail Ssemakula. 

The recount in that contest was ordered to take place on Friday, January 23.